The disclosure relates to refrigeration. More particularly, the disclosure relates to oil reclaim vaporizers for chiller systems.
In refrigeration systems such as chillers, it is known to use a vaporizer to separate refrigerant from a refrigerant/lubricant (oil) mixture. U.S. Pat. No. 6,672,102 of Huenniger et al. discloses a system wherein a vaporizer receives a refrigerant/lubricant mixture flow drained from an evaporator. The flow is mostly oil and it is desired to remove the refrigerant before returning the oil to lubricate the compressor. The flow is placed in heat exchange relation with a hot gas bypass flow passed from the compressor discharge to the evaporator. Vaporized refrigerant is passed to compressor suction and oil is drained to an oil sump to be returned to a compressor oil return port for lubrication (e.g., of bearings and rotors).